


stars and entropy

by ziraseal



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: F/F, First Kiss, Fluff, Pre-Relationship, mentions of depression
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-02
Updated: 2020-04-02
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:54:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23442778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ziraseal/pseuds/ziraseal
Summary: “We’re not in any rush to go, are we?”
Relationships: Female Sole Survivor/Piper Wright
Comments: 3
Kudos: 49





	stars and entropy

The crossbow bolt hits her right in the chest and she tumbles over the rusted yellow railing and down into the streets of Lexington. Damn. Finally. That last raider had been a nightmare, jumping between the catwalks at the top of the Corvega Plant and making it incredibly difficult for Rose to aim. Her eyes, without prompt, instinctively swept the area for any final hostiles before she allowed herself a breath of fresh air. And, all the way up here, the air was truly fresh.

What a fucking view. 

Pretty much any sight in the Commonwealth could be spotted from here, even in the darkness of midnight. From the mountains that served as a natural barrier between Massachusetts and the rest of the States, to Sanctuary Hills to Boston Airport to the Glowing Sea. Honestly, it was a little breathtaking, despite looking at a destroyed version of the world she’d grown up in. She’s sure that if one of the others were here, they’d chide her. Preston would remark that they were out in the open, exposed to attack. McCready would moan about wasting time that could be used to earn caps. Cait would get bored and want to move on. But the reporter didn’t seem to mind that they’d stopped. 

There was one thing, unmarred by nuclear devastation. The ocean, miles away but so vast and expansive that its presence was still visible; it did not do anything but exist and yet it so magnificently excelled at the task. Rose longed to visit, though a single dip in the water would kill her in a minute. 

She wondered if there was anywhere in the world where naturally clean water could still be found. 

“We’re not in any rush to go, are we?”

Rose turns and sees Piper, in just as much awe as she has been in, gazing out towards the bright stadium lights of Diamond City. Likely thinking of Nat, of Nick and the other citizens she’d come to love (even if some considered the reporter pesky). Rose could see the longing on her face. Someone like Piper never hid their emotions away. 

“Nah. No rush.”

The two women leaned out against the railings, weapons cast aside and backpacks unbuckled. Hell, if there wasn’t an infamous feral problem in Lexington, it would be nice to sleep out under the stars up here. 

Oh, the sky was beautiful tonight. 

Two hundred years without pollution really did the trick. Even as they sat atop a manufacturing plant that still sputtered a small amount of exhaust after all this time… Rose couldn’t have imagined this many stars back before the War. Out there, deep in space, things must be peaceful. No money to worry about. No Red Menace. No Institute. Just stars and entropy. 

Someone would eventually come along, she knew. Jared had multiple outposts set up around the city and no doubt a raider had heard the shouting and gunshots. Perhaps they would assume that, because things had quieted down, the threat had been dealt with. If nothing else, they would have a prime vantage point in case someone investigated the plant. But Rose wanted to pretend she wasn’t a Wastelander for a little while longer. 

Piper said nothing. Not that Rose didn’t wish for her words, it was just interesting that the view so utterly silenced someone with the gift of gab. It could not suppress the smile on the reporter’s lips, though. They sat down so that their legs dangled off the edge of the catwalk, arms slung over the bars to prevent slipping through. The metal would eventually hurt to sit on, but for now it felt childish and carefree. Rare in the commonwealth. 

A cigarette was lit. A part of the building creaked and groaned with age. Somewhere, miles away, gunshots and explosions could be heard. 

“It’s a little too rare, isn’t it?”

“Hmm? What is?” Rose asked. 

Piper took a draw of her cigarette before answering, “Having the time to do something like this. Getting to take a moment for ourselves. It’s just a little too rare.”

“You know, that’s the thing. Even before the war, we all were always too busy to appreciate what was around us. Meetings and work and chores… it kept you in this chokehold. And even if you were lucky to have the time on your hands to do things, a lot of people from my generation and the two before suffered from major depression. Really prevented us from doing the things we wanted and accomplishing even the simplest goals.”

“Huh. I think I’ve read about that. Dr. Sun is one of the only people in town who keeps a personal library and he lets me look through it during Nat’s checkups.”

“Yeah. Nate had it from the War. I have it from my mom’s side of the family. We figured Shaun might get it through the hereditary lottery but we planned to support and treat it as best we could.”

“How do you treat something like that now?” Piper asked.

Her question was genuine, and something Rose had wondered about since she stepped out of Vault 111 to find her entire world incinerated. Truth was, she had no idea. It’s not like normal medicine lay around for her to take, and the doctors out here had the equivalent of basic first aid training at best― out here in the apocalypse, not quite being right in the head was just a normal fact of life.

Still, Rose wondered if the expanse of stars she was finally able to see was less because of lack of physical pollution and more because she’d had such _crippling_ depression before the War. That depression wasn’t gone, but it had been on hold for the last few weeks, even with the death of her husband. Her mind was in a state of fight or flight, and she knew that if she wasn’t careful, she would crash right back into the familiar melancholy before long. 

“I guess I’ve been so focused on surviving that it didn’t occur to my own brain that it wasn’t producing chemicals correctly,” she chuckled.

Piper was giving her an amused look, and then the two of them resumed their silence. Rose hugged her bomber jacket closer to herself, ignoring the sting of cold November air. And then suddenly she wasn’t so cold. 

A head rested on her shoulder and a body pushed up against hers. Black hair tickled her face and the smell of homemade shampoo gently hit her nose… Rose couldn’t help the breath she took in, wanting to remember it. They cuddled together on the catwalk, and suddenly it was less and less the view that consumed Rose’s attention. 

There, just above the mountains.

A slight amount of purple, almost like a shade of lavender. Rose realized with several blinks of a pair of sleepy eyes that the sky had gone from black to pale blue; that the stars were growing faint. In fact, the only twinkling lights now were the red bulbs at the very top of the exhaust tower, still blinking after two centuries. A lone moon hung in the sky, struggling to appear as the atmosphere brightened around them.

The view was beautiful, but Rose wasn’t looking at the Commonwealth. 

For all the sky and buildings and ocean and stars… nothing could compare with green eyes and freckles. Not really. Nothing could compare with lips parting and the gentle sound of a hesitant breath before Piper leaned in and kissed her. 

A view could never compare with texture. _Texture_. 

Piper’s coat was scratchy. It had been out of fashion before the war, before clothes companies started making everything polyester, and that faded leather provided the right amount of friction to let Rose grasp Piper’s coat and pull the journalist as close to her as possible. A light moan, almost escaping her attentive ears. A hand hooked a leg around a hip. Though the metal grate of the catwalk was a little uncomfortable to lay down on, the two women did it anyways. A backpack was used as a pillow. Another moan. The sky starts to turn pink as she runs her fingers through lush black hair, softer than she imagined. Rose is rewarded with a kiss. And another. And another. 

  
  
  
  


Nah, they were not in any rush to go. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> based on a line of dialogue that Piper says at the top of Corvega


End file.
